579
579
Mar 21, 2008
03/08
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 579
favorite 0
comment 0
A chapter from the 1841 book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" by Charles MacKay. This story describes the financial bubble that engulfed all of France from 1717 to 1720. You may take comfort in the fact that there is a precedent for our recent sub-prime idiocy
Topics: John Law, Regent, speculation, stocks, Mississippi, Company of the Indies, bubble, audio book
177
177
Apr 24, 2010
04/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 177
favorite 0
comment 0
It's a shooting war on our shores. American and Russia both use devilish new weapons. Russia brings out their ultimate weapon. Americans are suckers for it.
Topics: war, battlefield, Russia, America, Sci-Fi, audio book, robots
1,865
1.9K
Aug 12, 2008
08/08
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 1,865
favorite 0
comment 0
You know the story of the man, the woman, and the snake? Well, it's not that one. This snake serves as a ballpoint pen and has literary ambitions. The text for this story is at www.gutenberg.org
Topics: sci-fi, fantasy, Frank Banta, audio book, snake, ballpoint, whimsy
92
92
Feb 22, 2010
02/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 92
favorite 0
comment 0
Ten New Dresses CLEAN! A twisted joke at the expense of the fat wife of a radio station GM goes wrong.
Topics: radio, fat women, armpit sweat, womens page
138
138
May 18, 2010
05/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 138
favorite 0
comment 0
What if modern day racketeers could control rats just like the Pied Piper? Who would stop them from extortion on a grand scale?
Topics: rats, pied piper, folklore, music, extortion, rackets, Sci-Fi, Dr. David Keller, gangsters
151
151
Feb 16, 2012
02/12
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 151
favorite 0
comment 0
A train engineer pulling up to the 12,000 foot summit of Marshall Pass, CO finds he's being pursued by a wild train behind while being ordered to stop by a swinging signal lantern ahead. The tale is from the collection "Myths and Legends of Our Own Land" by CHarles M. Skinner.
Topics: trains, phantoms, legends, Marshall Pass, Colorado, wild train
165
165
Feb 19, 2011
02/11
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 165
favorite 0
comment 0
A humorous poem about a short lived society of men who favored brawls over polite discussion. The Stanislaus River flows from the Sierras down to the Central Valley of California where it joins the San Joaquin River. The city of Modesto is in Stanislaus County.
Topics: Stanislaus, Bret Harte, poem, humor
595
595
Jul 8, 2009
07/09
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 595
favorite 0
comment 0
This short story was part of a collection published after Jack London's death in 1916. The story is set in Hawaii in the year 1880. I've broken it into two parts. In the first we are introduced to Hardman Pool portrayed as a haole chief lording it over his retainers who are both natives and relatives. Knowing London's sense of humor I sense some of this was a parody of stories written by others. In part two we hear Kumuhana's harrowing tale of being selected as a moe pu'u to be sacrificed to...
Topics: Jack London, fiction, Hawaii, sacrifice, folklore, Hardman Pool, Kumuhana, Kahekili
328
328
Aug 21, 2007
08/07
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 328
favorite 0
comment 0
This story comes from Genesis 22. It tells of Abraham taking his son to be sacrificed. More ink has been spilled over this story than any other I know. It is read during Rosh Hashanah.
Topics: Abraham, Isaac, sacrifice, bible, Genesis
210
210
May 25, 2010
05/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 210
favorite 0
comment 0
Two men in a bar. One is a spacer with a face full of red lines from compression and decompression. The other is a man known as Doc. It turns out he is responsible for space travel.
Topics: Sci-Fi, Kornbluth, audio books, space travel, bars, drinking, Bowman Drive
1,555
1.6K
Sep 16, 2006
09/06
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 1,555
favorite 2
comment 0
This is a collection of tales written by Beatrix Potter of which the most famous is The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Beatrix Potter was her own illustrator and the first tale started out as a present for a friend's sick child. A publisher saw it and the rest is history. In the Lake District of England, Mrs. Potter raised sheep and was considered to be quite an expert on them.
Topics: Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter, children's stories, tales
Source: www.storyspieler.com
174
174
Aug 15, 2011
08/11
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 174
favorite 0
comment 0
A doctor has bought some property that the locals say is haunted. He sends a young man to investigate and sure enough he sees a spirit who turns out to be his ancestor. After some adventure he uncovers a treasure.
Topics: treasure, ghost, New Amsterdam, myths and legends, Dolph Heylinger
10,229
10K
Aug 29, 2006
08/06
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 10,229
favorite 3
comment 2
This story by H.G. Wells, is about a time traveler and also about the extension of class distinctions from Wells' time into the far future. The Eloi are the descendants of the idle rich whose needs are taken care of by the Morlocks, the workers. The Morlocks, who dwell underground, have a need for fresh meat. When there is no moon, the Morlocks own the night. The text for this story may be found at www.gutenberg.org. Search authors for Wells, H.G.. The book had no chapter titles. I created the...
favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite ( 2 reviews )
Topics: audio books, science fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, H.G. Wells, time travel
Source: www.storyspieler.com
678
678
Oct 22, 2006
10/06
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 678
favorite 0
comment 0
An Indian youth dotes on his pet eagle. He is transported to another realm and there becomes an eagle himself. Then he is tempted to fly to a forbidden place and is seduced by the spirits of the dead.
Topics: audio books, Indian, Zuni, eagle, spirits, evil
Source: www.storyspieler.com
Rachel shares her sock knitting secrets, and she's finally finished with her Log Cabin Noro blanket! Natalie obsesses over two very large bumps of red wool. Oh dear! Rachel's Chat on the Fine Art of Knitting Socks Top downsources for good design: Cookie A's Sock Innovation and Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks, Folk Socks, Knitting on the RoadToe up short row toes and heels Judy's Magic Cast on for toe up socks Sources for good design: Wendy D. Johnson and Chrissy Gardiner Knitty article on...
109
109
Jan 9, 2012
01/12
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 109
favorite 0
comment 0
A short poem about a bricklayer telling of his love that could not be.
Topics: Carl Sandburg, bricklayer, love
2,192
2.2K
Aug 4, 2008
08/08
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 2,192
favorite 0
comment 0
A piece of black humor by Carroll M. Capps (AKA C.C. MacApp). Through a computer error the advertising manager for a casket company gets 100 times his normal budget and makes death the new cool thing. The text for this story is at www.gutenberg.org.
Topics: death, caskets, fantasy, black humor, satire, audio books, fiction
863
863
Apr 11, 2009
04/09
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 863
favorite 0
comment 0
This story doesn't start out well. A young lad is sent to market to buy food and instead gets a dog and a cat. His mom kicks him out. He labors a year for a sack of sand. But then his fortunes turn for the better when he acquires a magic ring. Not willing to be happy with his lot he seeks the hand of a princess and then his troubles really begin. The text for this story may be found at www.gutenberg.org
Topics: magic ring, king, princess, fairy tale, audio book
729
729
Jul 25, 2009
07/09
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 729
favorite 0
comment 0
An American Indian tale. An Indian befriends a gray mole and they travel to the far water. The trees talk to them and tell them what they are useful for. A magic canoe takes them to the mole's home on an island where they set a snare for the sun who has scorched the Indian's deer skin.
Topics: Indian, gray mole, folklore, audio book, fiction
414
414
Sep 11, 2007
09/07
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 414
favorite 0
comment 0
This short story by Bret Harte tells of an overheard conversation in a Pullman sleeping-car about the rise and fall of an undertaker. This story was abridged.
Topics: Bret Harte, humor, undertaker, Pullman car
725
725
Nov 28, 2006
11/06
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 725
favorite 1
comment 0
JUSTICE-OF-THE-PEACE Benaja Widdup is relaxing in the afternoon when he sees the cart of Ransie and Ariela Bilbro approaching. They want a divorce. The Justice is uncertain as to whether that is within his authority or not but reasons if he can hitch people he should be able to reverse the process. Besides, there is $5 cash money on the table. That five dollar bill is a minor character in the story and the reader is advised to keep track of it.
Topics: O.Henry, audio books, fiction, divorce, humor
Source: www.storyspieler.com
5,818
5.8K
Aug 28, 2006
08/06
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 5,818
favorite 1
comment 0
A classic collection of stories of India by Rudyard Kipling. In recent years the publishers have cut the Jungle Book up and created a book for each story.
Topics: audio books, Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling, India, children's stories
Source: www.storyspieler.com
1,765
1.8K
May 21, 2009
05/09
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 1,765
favorite 2
comment 0
The final war is underway. The remaining humans live underground making war materials. On the surface the battle is in the hands of robots. But these robots have a mind of their own. The text for this story may be found at www.gutenberg.org .
Topics: Philip K. Dick, Sci-Fi, robots, war, under-surface
317
317
Nov 16, 2011
11/11
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 317
favorite 2
comment 0
A skilled inventor argues in favor of machines having life. He has a reason for doing so. He has a dark secret.
Topics: sentient beings, life, Ambrose Bierce, murder, chess, automaton
166
166
Jan 17, 2012
01/12
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 166
favorite 0
comment 0
No matter our accomplishments or power, we are all subject to Death's whim.
Topics: Carl Sandburg, poetry, death, proud men
110
110
Dec 5, 2010
12/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 110
favorite 0
comment 0
Lois Rather was my cousin and a life long writer who greatly enjoyed doing research. She and her husband Cliff started the Rather Press in 1969. All the type was set by hand. They were well known and admired by those with similar enterprises. Some were dismayed that their earliest projects employed staples. They were taught how to stitch a binding and did so. Lois found that in 1889 the 23 year old Rudyard Kipling had gotten to England by way of America and she tracked down all the information...
Topics: Rudyard Kipling, San Francisco, Rather Press, Lois Rather
135
135
Aug 25, 2010
08/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 135
favorite 0
comment 0
While astrology has gone out of favor since the constellations have moved over the past 2000 years and are no longer where the charts would have them, yet the possibility of closer celestial objects effecting our destinies goes on. In this story it is the strange radiation from the S-Regions of the sun and their possible effect on human behavior.
Topics: Sci-Fi, Philip Lathem, S-Regions, Sun, human behavior
301
301
Jun 29, 2009
06/09
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 301
favorite 0
comment 0
On this, the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area, I read my account from a journal I kept when I worked at KRON-TV.
Topics: earthquake, Loma Prieta, San Francisco, journal, quake, KRON-TV, geek lit
196
196
Jun 10, 2010
06/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 196
favorite 0
comment 0
If, somehow, you get trapped in a circular time system ... how long is the circumference of an infinitely retraced circle?
Topics: Sci-Fi, audio book, John O'Keefe, paradox, time circle
149
149
Jul 17, 2009
07/09
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 149
favorite 0
comment 0
Universal Healthcare or Private Healthcare? Our favorite couple Sarah and Dean thrash it out.
Topics: Healthcare, propaganda, humor
2,592
2.6K
May 11, 2007
05/07
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 2,592
favorite 0
comment 0
If someone read your future and said you were going to commit murder, would you believe him? If so, would you commit the murder now or put it off until later? Oscar Wilde's satire of late Victorian England, with its supernatural fads and Lady Windermere's social lions, takes us on a delightful spin. The text for this story may be found at www.gutenberg.org
Topics: Wilde, Windermere, murder, humor, Savile
5,016
5.0K
Apr 18, 2007
04/07
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 5,016
favorite 1
comment 0
Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X by Victor Appleton. Victor Appleton was a house name owned by the publisher. Several authors actually wrote the Tom Swift stories. The bulk of the stories were completed by 1941. This story is from a second group and was published in 1961. The Cold War is very much evident in the plot. The most obvious anachronism is that throughout the story telephones are on walls or desks but never in pockets. Tom cranks out a steady stream of high-tech inventions that...
Topics: Tom Swift, Planet X, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
620
620
Sep 20, 2008
09/08
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 620
favorite 0
comment 0
A young man is dead and his friends meet to attempt to decode a message found in his effects.
Topics: codes, ciphesr, computers, mystery, audio book, Roy Trumbull
182
182
Aug 30, 2011
08/11
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 182
favorite 0
comment 0
This tale tells many of the myths and legends associated with the White Mountains. From Myths and Legends of Our Own Land by Charles M. Skinner.
Topics: ghosts, lovers, Indians, pioneers, supernatural
314
314
Aug 21, 2007
08/07
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 314
favorite 0
comment 0
This is a reading of the Book of Jonah (a.k.a Jonah and the Whale). In a literal translation it is a "big fish" that swallows Jonah. This story is read during Yom Kippur.
Topics: Jonah, whale, bible
257
257
Aug 28, 2006
08/06
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 257
favorite 1
comment 0
They may look like ordinary house plants but they are in fact the deadly pre-invasion advance guard of the Terra-Cots from planet Erg.
Topics: science fiction, fantasy, humor, sci-fi
2,363
2.4K
Jan 15, 2008
01/08
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 2,363
favorite 1
comment 0
This tale has it all. A young hero; a dragon that eats everything in its path; a beautiful but evil witch; a magic ring that confers great powers; and a magician who knows how to learn the secrets of the ring.
Topics: magic ring, witch, magician, dragon, magic
1,010
1.0K
Nov 13, 2010
11/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 1,010
favorite 2
comment 0
Rootabaga Stories is a children's book written by Carl Sandburg and published in 1922. It is full of delightful nonsense.
Topics: Sandburg, Rootabaga Country, children's stories, nonsense
9,464
9.5K
Jun 24, 2007
06/07
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 9,464
favorite 2
comment 0
In August of 1960 the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of American held their national convention at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The space people requested that their leader Gabriel Green run for president of the United States. Both true believers and skeptics turned out for the event. In those times the people claiming to have been in saucers or to have had contact with saucer people were called "contactees". They worked a sort of house concert circuit giving talks to small...
Topics: flying saucers, politics, contactees
355
355
Apr 19, 2010
04/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 355
favorite 1
comment 0
Using their telepathic powers the Martians know the earth rocket is coming. They have great expectations as do the earthmen. But a slight error changes all that.
Topics: Sci-Fi, Fredric Brown, Mars, earth, rocket, audio book
333
333
Sep 2, 2006
09/06
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 333
favorite 0
comment 0
In the ballroom of the grand hotel on New Year's Eve we pretty much know the scene. On the other side of the kitchen door, will a love gone sour sweeten before the night is over? The text for this story may be found at www.gutenberg.org. Search authors for Ferber, Edna.
Topics: audio books, fiction, ferber, hen lit, love, romance
Source: www.storyspieler.com
210
210
Aug 31, 2006
08/06
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 210
favorite 0
comment 0
The place is the midwest. The time is the early days of World War I. The young men are enlisting and their girl friends are left behind. Tessie Golden works in a watch factory and is sassy and confident. But when her boy friend comes home during a break in training she finds he is learning French. It dawns on her that when he comes home from the war he will be a diferent person but she will be the same. The text for this story may be found at www.gutenberg.org. Search authors for Ferber, Edna.
Topics: audio books, fiction, ferber, hen lit, love, romance
Source: www.storyspieler.com
2,508
2.5K
Aug 6, 2008
08/08
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 2,508
favorite 1
comment 0
A mining colony on the moon is home to a murderer and to his victim who is slowly recovering memories lost when he was left for dead. A bold attempt is made to hijack $5 million in diamonds from the mine. The text for this story may be found at www.gutenberg.org .
Topics: Sci-Fi, audio book, lunar, moon, mining, murder, Leinster
1,921
1.9K
Oct 8, 2006
10/06
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 1,921
favorite 1
comment 0
An imp creates an evil mirror in which beauty is made ugly. The mirror shatters and the pieces scatter and cause evil in the world. Kay and Gerta are playmates. Kay is struck in the eye by a fragment of the mirror and overnight changes and alarms Gerta. He is attracted to and carried off by the Snow Queen and taken to her frozen palace. Gerta has many adventures in her search for Kay.
Topics: audio books, H.C. Andersen, children's stories, Snow Queen
Source: www.storyspieler.com
329
329
Jul 1, 2008
07/08
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 329
favorite 0
comment 0
A collection of stories first published in 1908 by Annie Trumbull Slosson. They were first told by a 13 year old girl in a southern village who had an amazing talent for making powerful points with her simple stories. Ms. Slosson took them down with attention to the young ladies' dialect. (The author was my distant cousin.) The text for this book is available at www.gutenberg.org. Search author for Slosson.
Topics: parables, allegories, folk-lore, stories, audio book, dialect, American south, Annie Trumbull...
255
255
Oct 23, 2013
10/13
by
Cory Doctorow
audio
eye 255
favorite 0
comment 0
This is the audiobook edition of my self-published science fiction short story collection, With a Little Help . I tapped many voice actor friends ( Neil Gaiman , Mur Lafferty , Wil Wheaton , Leo Laporte , Emily Hurson , Patrick Nielsen Hayden , Hugh AD Spencer , Mary Robinette Kowal , JC Hutchins , Roy Trumbull , Jonathan Coulton , Spider Robinson , Jesse Brown , and Russell Galen ) to record the stories in this volume, and their recordings were mastered by John Taylor Williams, who also...
Topics: with a little help, audiobook, cory doctorow, science fiction, self publishing
3,018
3.0K
Feb 13, 2009
02/09
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 3,018
favorite 0
comment 0
A classic tall tale from the southwest about the cowboy Pecos Bill.
Topics: Pecos Bill, tornado, tall tales
254
254
Apr 5, 2010
04/10
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 254
favorite 0
comment 0
Two grifters decide to introduce the phonograph to South America. They meet the assistant to the President whose graft is that of being the only honest man in the country. They become involved in his attempt to put down a revolution before it starts. The story contains racial slurs of which I've removed the most objectionable. I don't know whether it is worse to leave in the remainder or to join the collective amnesia that tries to pretend such language couldn't be heard on every street corner....
Topics: phonograph, O.Henry, South America, humor, audio book
466
466
Jan 3, 2007
01/07
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 466
favorite 0
comment 0
This is a tale in which a soldier is allowed to have his pick from three underground treasures guarded by huge dogs if only he will bring back a tinderbox. The secret of the tinderbox is that whoever has it can command the dogs to do his bidding. Naturally the soldier falls in love with a beautiful princess who complicates matters.
Topics: tinderbox, Andersen, fairy tale, dogs, treasure, children's stories
Source: www.storyspieler.com
1,861
1.9K
Feb 19, 2008
02/08
by
Roy Trumbull
audio
eye 1,861
favorite 0
comment 0
The Prince of the Air spirits away a king's only daughter. A prince from a neigboring kingdom sets out to bring her back and marry her.
Topics: fairy tale, magic, prince, princess,children's stories
